


More Than Normal

by PetuniaViolet



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Average little girl is protected by genuineses, Bird Mom Happy, Drama, F/M, Father-daughter issues, Fluff, Follows the Show, Kidnapping, Little Brother Ralph, Mom Squad, Over-protectiveness, Soccer Mom Paige, Violence, Walter has a niece, dad squad, fillers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-20 02:40:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8233187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetuniaViolet/pseuds/PetuniaViolet
Summary: What if Megan had a daughter all along?Being her uncle and legal guardian outside of the hospital, Walter needs someone to translate his non-genius niece, while Paige needs help translating her genius son. . . . See where this is going?Waige, Quintis, Melvester.(Follows the show's plot)





	1. The Diner

**Author's Note:**

> Also on ff.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12071080/1/More-Than-Normal

**June 4th, 2003**

**1:33PM**

Megan O’Brien was an extremely sickly woman, she had MS, she almost died when she was twelve from a fever and she was starting to depend on crutches to walk.

But all of those negative aspects of her life were forgotten once she held her daughter in her arms. And with her brother, Walter, by her side, there was nothing Megan could feel but bliss. She watched the way he looked at her baby, so lovingly and caring. She almost rolled her eyes, her twenty-one-year-old baby brother stated he couldn’t feel emotions, and obviously, he was wrong.

Alexandria had only been born an hour ago, she was a healthy baby born with 20.16 inches and 7.50 pounds. Megan couldn’t stop patting her daughter’s dark hair, and she was so tiny that she had to touch her like she was a precious feather.

“Has Derek contacted you?” Walter asked suddenly, his tone was distant but his gaze upon his sister was calm.

Megan sighed with a tired smile; he had to ruin the moment. “I did. He told me he couldn’t make it because he was having a ‘crucial’ party at his sorority house.” She chuckled, making her tired lines pop around her eyes. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Walter barked.

“ _Walter_ please…” she held Alexandria closer to her chest and gave him a look, he took a deep breath and settled down instantly. “It’s fine because it was only a one night stand, he’s twenty years old, he’s young and he needs to enjoy his younger years. I can handle being a single mom, I was actually prepared for it,” she gave chimed as she drew a line on her daughter’s chubby cheeks with her thumb. “Isn’t you that is always that Derek is only the ‘sperm donator’?” she gave him a playful smirk.

“Yes,” he nodded, with an eye roll. “And in this case, he is. If he doesn’t want to participate in his daughter’s life and be a father, then I’ll step in as him then. I will be more than elated to be your child’s father figure, and it’ll be my honor to raise her by your side.” His tone of voice was deep and determined.

Megan chuckled amusedly and warmly, her brother sometimes could still impress her after all these years. “Good thing, because I was afraid that the extra bedroom you built in your loft would be for a new working space, and not actually Alexandria’s bedroom.” Her grin widened when he flushed embarrassedly. “And of course, since I can’t leave the hospital much, I’ll need someone to show her the outside world… I can’t raise my daughter in a hospital…” she added with a sad smile. “And I don’t want her to see me sick…”

Walter almost chocked as he cut her. “Megan I-I promise you that I’ll be always there for Alexandria and you,” he reached for Megan’s hand and pursed his lips seriously. “She’s my niece, and you’re my sister and my confidante. I’ll cure you, I promise, my research is going to work.”

Megan’s wrinkles popped out as she gave him a forced, but firm smile. “I’m sure you’re doing your best Walter. But… I already talked to my lawyer. If anything happens to me, you’ll be the designated guardian for my daughter.”

“Not… Derek?”

She blew a quiet raspberry, not to startle her sleeping angel. “Of course not, like I told you, he’s still a kid in my eyes.”

“Then why did you even slept with him?” he deadpanned gruffly.

Megan shrugged and gave him a sheepish smile. “He was cute, and he didn’t care about my crutches and I was a little tipsy. And it had been a while, being in the hospital doesn’t exactly let me meet hot guys—I mean Dr. Stein is cute—but I was out, without you, and well the rest is history.”

Walter had a pained expression. “Please let’s change the subject.” He almost begged as he glanced back at his niece.

She laughed heartedly, “Sure.”

“So why Alexandria?” he asked curiously.

“Well, I always like the paired name Alexander and Alexandra. Remember? I told you once when I was—“

“—Sixteen,”

She smiled knowingly. “Exactly, so when I found out that I was having a baby girl I decided Alexandra would be her name. But when she was placed on my chest, crying her eyes out, the name Alexandria was the chosen one.” She explained contentedly.

Walter hummed as he stared at Alexandria, she was sleeping peacefully, and that relaxed him. “It’s a beautiful name.”

“Alexandria Louise O’Brien,” Megan stated proudly.

“Yes, not Tanner,” Walter expressed distastefully.

“Yep, he won’t get that privilege.” She agreed. Megan could comprehend Derek’s situation, but she wasn’t going to put his last name on _her_ daughter.

“Excellent,” Walter rose from his seat and kissed Megan’s head. “I have to go now,” he muttered as he pecked Alexandria’s head as well, only gentler. “I have to meet someone.”

She smiled lovingly as she watched him make sure everything was in order before he actually left. “Still thinking about finding geniuses for you Scorpion thing?”

“It’s not a thing, well, not yet but it will be!” he stated. “I’ll be back tomorrow to see you two, promise.”

“Same time?”

He smiled. “Always,”

**X**

**Eleven Years Later…**

**September 22 nd, 2014**

Eleven-year-old Alexandria O’Brien sighed boredly for the tenth time since she walked inside Kovalsky’s diner. She was sitting at the counter, drinking a mint chocolate milkshake, while she waited for her uncle to end another relationship… while on his job.

She glanced at the woman, what was her name again? She didn’t remember and she’s been dating her uncle for three months. She wasn’t around the warehouse much. That meant that Walter probably lost interest in her and was just trying to get dumped instead of doing the dumping himself. He disliked doing that. It meant that he had to try to console her… emphasis on try.

“Hey I pay you to fix wireless, not talk.” The owner of the diner barked at Walter, interrupting whatever awkward conversation he was having with his now ex-girlfriend. She looked upset now, after realizing that her uncle had schedule a break-up on a job. But if Alexandria knew her uncle, he’d reply with a ‘it’s more efficient’.

This, at least, was amusing.

Like the boy sitting a stool next to her, he was playing chess with condiments. The reason why Alexandria knew that the boy was playing chess by himself was because Sylvester taught her how to play – she’d lost but at least she knew how to give a good challenge.

“Hey kid, you’re making a mess!” the owner complained. “Paige! Again your boy’s all over with the shakers!”

Paige, the diner waitress that had been busy talking with the costumers and serving them at the same time, sighed and glanced between her boss and son. “I know, he knows, I know. He’s just having a bad time adjusting to school. He’ll be back next week. Promise.”

Her boss only sighs gruffly and walks away to greet other costumers.

Alexandria watched the two talk quietly. They seem so different, how can they be related?

“Hey honey. It’s okay. Mr. Gianakos just likes to keep things neat. Remember we talked about that kind of thing before? Doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, okay?” she comforts him as she leans down to his sitting level at the counter.

And Alexandria follows her eyes as Paige sends a look at her now working uncle, she didn’t even noticed when passed by her.

She smiles, Paige seems to be a good mom. Alexandria finished her shake sighs in delight. When Paige moves to the back of the counter to start cleaning on a few glasses and prepare the next orders, she notices the little girl with the empty glass.

“Would you like something else, sweetie?” she asks with a friendly smile.

Alexandria shakes her head and places a ten-dollar bill on the counter. “Keep the change,”

Paige chuckled. “That’s too much.”

“It’s fine, really,” she insisted. _It’s because you’re a good mom._

Paige gave up and took the money, taking the shake glass as well. As soon as she went to deliver the rest of the orders for the costumers, Walter waltzed straight towards the boy.

“Uncle Walt, what are you doing?” Alexandria hissed between her teeth with a nervous smile.  

He was playing a makeshift chess with a stranger’s son. She knew he was thinking about something more logical but this would be enough to set an alarm over Paige’s head.

“Uhm…” Walter was paying attention to the game, it was a fast one. The boy was engaged as well, and he matched the same thinking speed as Walter, and that impressed Alexandria. “Uhm…” And Walter won in less than five moves, still… that was really amazing.

Alexandria grinned at the boy. “Dude, you’re a—“

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Paige interrupted as she approached her son in a protective stance.

Walter nodded at Alexandria and she chuckled while hopping out of the stool, as she walked towards the door she heard her uncle talking with the waitress.

“No, but you should help him.” He told her as he walked pass by her, Alexandria smiled sheepishly as she watched Paige scowl offended. “Wireless is up. Don’t yell at that boy.” He managed to warn the owner before leaving the diner with his niece.


	2. Tension From The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> watch your mouth around the children!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS I AM SO SORRY! I keep forgetting to upload a new chapter here! Go to ff.net my story is also there if you prefer to read it in that site! Under 'HarleyHolmes' 
> 
> Sorry for the grammatical mistakes!

When she arrived at the garage with her uncle, she wasn't expecting seeing Happy stealing electricity and hearing about her punching a guy in the face because he called her 'sugar'.

She wasn't exactly thrilled to know that there was still no water, she wanted to take a bath and her hair was greasy! Alexandria sat down on her uncle's desk and swung her legs impatiently as she watched them speak about stuff she didn't comprehend. She just wanted to be sure everything was fine, but it was obvious to her that her uncle was upset about something, he was being mean towards Sly. She likes Sly, he taught her chess and they share a common adoration for Super Fun Guy, and since he's the youngest from the team, they easily connected more with each other.

Then suddenly there was a loud noise outside, Alexandria heard it as a car suddenly stopping at a high speed, seconds later, Toby enters the garage looking agitated and out of breath.

"Shh! Keep your voices down!" he cried as he closed the door as fast as he could, he ran to the middle of the garage and everyone approached him quickly or answers. The car kept speeding away outside, surrounding the street like a shark, Alexandria simply whined and hopped down from the desk to stand near her uncle.

"Uh Toby… tell me you have the Lynwood payment." Walter questioned as he walked towards him, he noticed Alexandria's movement and stood slightly in front of her in a protective way.

"First, can I note how I nearly tripled the Lynwood payment?" Toby quickly told him with both of his arms up defensively, he kept glancing between his team members/friends and the door, and he bit his fist with an anxious and nervous whine when he realized how bad the situation might be. Toby feared whatever or whomever was outside.

Happy peeked outside the window to see what the commotion was all about. "So those thugs are chasing you down to give you a big congratulation?" she stated ironically with a glare towards the shaky man.

Alexandria saw her uncle rub the back of his neck, a sign that he was annoyed or nervous.

"I beat them in poker! They're born chumps! Pupils that dilate like saucers whenever they get a good hand? Come on!"

"Maybe you were cocky about it…" Alexandria mumbled. "No one likes cocky winners…"

Happy smirked at her.

"A Harvard-trained behaviorist should know that people don't like to get cheated!" Sylvester scolded him with a panicked voice.

"I hate you," Happy stated.

"No you don't," Toby countered quickly with a small shrug.

Walter scoffed. "We have the combined I.Q of nearly 700, and we can't even pay our bills." He gave a sarcastic smile as he placed his hands on his hips.

"We had a bad day!" Toby opposed.

"We've been at this for two years!" Walter resisted, "I have my niece to take care of and the whole reason why I started this company is because we have more to offer than just fixing routers!"

Everyone looked at Walter attentive to his words. And he glanced at Alexandria, whom was staring at the floor with a resigned expression.

"Walter, I'm reading a textbook panic response to normal financial stressors." Toby explained with a serious tone.

"Okay, if this thing is going south, Walt, just let me know. 'Cause I have a cousin who owns a garage in Phoenix…" Happy voiced, trying to offer a plan for the situation.

But Walter interjected her as he turned his back and rubbed his face in a frustrated manner, "No matter how hard we try – and I know we're all trying – we're a million miles from normal." He finished with a solemn expression.

Everyone regarded him with a guilty and disbelieved expression.

"I love you guys… even if you're not normal." Alexandria piped in as a silence settled.

Walter sighed and looked at her in a gentle way, but before he or anyone could've said anything, there was a loud banging coming from the door. Everyone scattered in different directions, but Walter positioned himself in front of Alexandria as a shield.

But then a police siren was heard as well.

"Uncle Walter, what's going on?" she asked frightened as she clinged onto his shirt.

"Dunno… stay behind me," he whispered.

The banging stopped, "Your timing's perfect." A man said outside. "The guy inside there ripped us off!"

There was more conversation happening outside, but it was barely audible.

And then someone actually knocked on the door, "Homeland Security!" a deep voice called from outside.

"Is this you?" Walter asked Toby confusedly as they all neared the door, Alexandria was calmer now, but she was still standing between her uncle and Sylvester.

"No!" Toby replied, rather offended.

"We're looking for Walter O'Brien!" the owner of the voice said as he slid something underneath the door.

Happy quickly trotted towards the object and grabbed it to inspect it, "It's a badge." She announced as threw it towards Walter.

He easily caught it and looked at it with a bemused expression, Alexandria peeked to see it as well and she liked how shiny the star was. Walter nodded at Happy for her to open the door and a middle-aged man wearing a full suit waltzed inside.

Alexandria watched her uncle's confused expression become an expressionless, eye-widened one, "No, no no no," his voice was deep and final, "Get out. Get out!" Walter pulled Alexandria closer as the man approached, "Get out of here now."

"I wouldn't be here if I weren't desperate, trust me." the man told him calmly.

"Trust you?" Walter gave him a sarcastic smile, "What is that… a joke?"

"Who are you?" Happy asked as she felt the mood between Walter and the man.

"He's Federal Agent Cabe Gallo," Walter replied with a careless tone. "We worked together years ago, way before Alexandria was born. The outcome was unfavorable."

Cabe glanced at Alexandria quickly before his eyes settled on her uncle again, "Put it aside, O'Brien," He told him with a warning tone, "I need you. Forty-five minutes ago, there was an automatic software upgrade in the LAX control tower. It had a bug. Now the entire system's down." His explanation was cut short by Happy.

"Wa-Wa-Wait—all the communications are down?" she asked.

"Contact's been lost between Long Beach, LAX and Burbank," He replied, not breaking his contact with Walter, "Incoming flights have been diverted but the ones that were about to start their descent… fifty-six of them… are out of comm. range. NSA's trying to work a satellite hook-up. FBI's attempting a Morse code signal from the observatory. We need you on the software. Without landing guidance, those planes run out of fuel.

Alexandria noticed the anxious look on Sylvester, which meant that something was really wrong. She didn't understand some of the words that Cabe just said but from the intensity of his raspy voice, it was bad.

"And crash. And crash, Walter!" Sylvester told him with a panicked tone.

"Sounds like… catastrophe is imminent." Walter drawled as he kept his fixed glare on Cabe. "So go find someone else. Now."

"Uncle Walter!" Alexandria gasped as she looked up at her uncle, he looked so seethed.

"How about a certified Federal checks for $50,000 in each of your pockets?" Cabe suggested evenly.

Everyone stared at him shocked.

"Me too?" Alexandria joked, just to ease the tension a little.

Cabe looked at her and showed a small smile, "No but… we can get you something." as she smiled back shyly, he looked at the whole group still gaping at him. "I ran checks on all of you. Mechanical prodigy, world-class shrink, a human calculator." He said as he looked directly at Happy, Toby and Sylvester. "Brilliant minds working at half-capacity. You want to do something meaningful? Here's your chance. You don't, people and metal will be falling from the sky in less than two hours." He looked again at Walter, "It's your call."

There was a silence, everyone was just staring at Walter for an answer, and he took his eyes from Cabe to gaze upon his badge. Alexandria was worried about him, and she was also afraid that he'd say no. The part where Cabe said, about people falling from the sky, scared her a little. She just hoped he would say yes.

"Even with half of my IQ, I wouldn't be dumb enough to believe you twice." He finally answered as he tossed the badge back to its owner. "Put it aside?" and "Forget about it and move on?" It's not an option for people with photographic memory." He mildly sneered.

Speaking on photograph, it reminded Alexandria that she needed to fill the photo album of memories for her mom!

"Give us a minute." Happy piped in, taking Walter away to have more privacy.

As they walked away, Alexandria watched Toby stand next to Cabe and cross his arms at the same time that the agent did.

Cabe gave him a look, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Curse word," Alexandria called out automatically.

"Yep, can't curse in front of her," Toby nodded, "And I was mirroring you so your subconscious can relate to me. I thought it would help you relax." He explained.

"Do you think it's working?" Cabe asked Alexandria with a small smile again.

She giggled and shook her head, "Nope."

Toby scoffed. "What do you know about psychology?" he challenged her jokingly.

She shrugged, "Nothing."

"So are you Walter's daughter?" Cabe finally asked.

Alexandria pursed her lips and looked at Toby, he nodded, "No, I'm his niece." She extended her hand at him, "I'm Alexandria O'Brien. You can call me Alex… or Lexi. But never call me Alexia please…"

He took her hand and gently shook it, "It's nice to meet you, Alex." He was amused and curious about the anti-Alexia part, but due to the circumstances, he decided to hold that thought for another day.

"Time is wasting," Cabe called to Walter, who was glaring at him. "We've got fifty-six planes to land."

Everyone regarded Walter for any signs of approval. Then he finally let out a small sigh and walked towards Cabe, "LAX Tower Control is the main hub for all the other airports," he started, making Alexandria smile in relief.

"Fix the software there, it autocorrects in Long Beach and Burbank." Cabe said.

"So, the new software's the glitch… first step is to delete that, then download the old software, should be enough for the planes to land." Walter continued as he unbuttoned the wrist sleeves from his shirt.

"So you're doing it?" Cabe stated more than he asked, he had a relieved expression.

Walter simply looked away from him.

"We go to LAX we fix the software, we are at ninety percent chance of success." Sylvester told Walter after making his mental calculations.

"Grab your equipment." Walter ordered Happy as he shoved his hands on his pants, "Mine too, please?" he added.

Everyone moved to do their thing, while Alexandria stood where she exactly was, and while everyone was distracted, Walter approached Cabe and stood face to face to him.

"Must've been keeping tabs on me to find me so quickly." He said.

"I got promoted in L.A. Office. Only make sense that I would track you down. The only thing I didn't know was about your niece," Cabe told him.

Walter gave him a humorless smile when he mentioned his niece, "Stay away from her."

"Yeah and your body language suggests that's about half the truth," Toby commented as he passed by the three directly to the door.

Sylvester approached Walter from the back, looking at Cabe anxiously. "Of course there's a ten percent chance that everybody dies." he stipulated as he also walked to the door, following Toby.

Happy gave Walter his blazer and placed Alexandria's coat on her head, making the little girl chuckle. She quickly put her coat on as she watched her uncle talk with Cabe with a menacing tone.

"You cross me on this…" Walter began as he dressed up, "I'll go online and in less than an hour, I will erase you," he threatened. "Alexandria, let's go."

She quickly walked by his side and grabbed hold of his shaking hand, he squeezed hers in a gentle and thankful way before he led her outside of the garage, she had time to glance back and see the guilty expression on Cabe's face.

* * *

Alexandria was sitting in the back between Happy and Toby, she was holding the half-Asian's woman hand for some support because of the speed, and from the beads of sweat coming descending from Sylvester's forehead, he was in need of some comfort as well.

After a few minutes of Cabe's co-worker's driving through the driveway, Toby finally got say what was on his mind.

"Alright listen, when the FBI and NSA fail, do we get some kind of bonus here? I'd be willing to go double or nothing." He said following his gambler mind.

"Toby," Walter hissed.

"I'm just saying," he quickly told him with an innocent tone.

Alexandria smiled at their exchange.

"They were your top choice for this?" Cabe's co-worker asked with a tired tone.

"Walter O'Brien is one of the five smartest people alive, so, yes." Cabe replied with a firm tone.

The eleven-year-old girl approved the way he talked about his uncle, she looked at him for any reaction but she didn't see any.

The dispatch that Cabe was carrying suddenly started talking and behind it was a female's voice. Everyone listened attentively. " _Be advised, just got word from headquarters there's a major pile-up on the 405. LAX is unreachable for hours. Repeat: LAX is a no-go._ "

"Copy that." Cabe replied.

"Call for a helicopter." Toby said loudly.

Alexandria shivered just with the excited thoughts on riding an helicopter for the first time.

"Air traffic's been shut down until the situation is resolved." Cabe told him.

Alexandria pouted.

"No copter?" Sylvester looked at him a concerned look, then he eyed Walter, "We're down to seventeen percent chance of success." He told him apprehensively.

"Pipe down, Rain Man." The driver suddenly called out.

Alexandria gasped as Happy spoke, "Call him that again, you better hope the Feds have a good dental plan." She threatened with a protective tone.

"Yeah!" Alexandria supported, she didn't know what 'Rain Man' meant, but for Happy be reacting like this and Sylvester's hurtful expression, it wasn't good.

"This is what we do with a car full of geniuses—and a kid—"

"What you'll get is a solution if everyone keeps their mouth shut." Walter suddenly interjected while giving Happy and Alexandria a look.

"Everyone, quiet!" Cabe yelled.

Walter was quiet for a while, when he suddenly had an idea, "We don't need to go to LAX. We just need a reliable wireless signal with no chance of going down. I just fixed one a mile north of here." he said.

"You mean…" Alexandria grinned at her uncle.

**XX**

After the diner was all cleared, her uncle's team started to work immediately by the watchful eyes of the waitress Paige. And Alexandria was sitting on the table, next to Ralph, watching him play the same game of chess made of condiments by himself. She'd play with him, but she feels a little intimidated.

"Hi," she started.

He didn't say anything, but at least he looked at her. That was enough to make her smile.

She then looked at Sylvester, who was still cleaning the countertop with a panicked expression and muttering about 'chicken' and 'diseases'.

"Ralph, good to see you again," Walter said as he spared a glance to the boy.

The boy looked at him, wordlessly again, and Paige looked between the two with a worried expression. Alexandria saw that, and she smiled at her comfortingly.

"Roughly eighty-nine minutes until the first plane goes down." Cabe announced loudly. "Their lives are in our hands." Everyone looked at him somberly, excluding Ralph.

"Is there something wrong in LAX?" Alexandria heard Paige asked Sylvester behind her back.

The man paused and looked at her uneasily, "It's top-secret." He stuttered.

She gave him a bemused look, "How can it be top-secret if the guy who set up our wireless is working on it?" she asked smartly as she looked at Walter.

Ralph tilted his head at them and looked at Alexandria, "Don't ask me, I can't explain you." she shrugged. "Literally,"

"Happy, script a POST check after the system's stabilized," Walter told her as he started speaking with a leader's voice, "Sylvester, run the odds on the patch linking back into the software. We do not want the same problem tomorrow." He stopped next to Toby and talked to him more quietly, Alexandria couldn't hear him but she and Ralph watch Sylvester run to a table to place his laptop there.

"Everything okay in here?" Paige asked as she patted her son's head. "Do you want something to eat? On the house," she asked her with a small smile.

"No, thanks!" Alexandria beamed as she swung her legs.

"Screw this up, brains and guts are gonna bounce all over town." Sylvester suddenly said loudly.

Paige gave him a scowl as Alexandria paled, Ralph seemed indifferent though.

"Actually, fuel tanks ignite on impact, you won't find a body part." Happy commented.

"Eh, a blood-soaked spleen could burn at a slower rate." Toby added.

"Hey, please check your language around my nine-year-old… and Alex." Paige bravely scolded them.

Walter looked at her with a small smile.

"Be decent in my place of work. Thank you." she finished before turning around and returning to the table where the children were.

Walter's smile widened slightly.

"You sure you don't want anything to eat? Drink?" Paige asked Alexandria again.

She shook her head and continued to deny her friendly question.


	3. Forgive But Never Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to say something about why did it took me so much time to update: the script. I can't find a good site that has it for EVERY episode! So I have to write as I watch the episode online, it's kinda hard for me to keep pausing it to write and I have to do it for more than forty minutes.
> 
> And I still get grammatical mistakes, lmao.
> 
> Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that updates might come slow, but I will do my best. After all I love this show! And I'm loving the new season (omfg), don't worry I'm not spoiling anyone haha! With the new season starting, I got even more pumped to continue this story, so keep the feedback up, people!
> 
> Again, English is not my first language, and this is my first Scorpion story, so don't flame it! Haha seriously I'm really sensitive, I will literally panic.
> 
> Anywaaaaaays... enjoy your reading!
> 
> Also: the relationship beween Ralph and my OC (Lexi) will be purely platonic. This is a RalphxSloan fic (I hope they show her again this season!)

Happy and Toby were gone, Walter had send them somewhere that Alexandria didn't know, she only understood that it was important and silently wished them luck, she did it silently because they didn't believe in such thing.

And then suddenly, after telling him an order, Sylvester approached the two children with a phone on his ear and took curiosity on Ralph's game.

He shared a look with Alexandria and she nodded with a impish smile, tilted her head towards it and persuading him to play with the quiet boy.

And so he did, and as soon as he made his move, Ralph was quick to make his as well. Alexandria could only watch in awe as the two played a fast game of chess. She looked to see if her uncle was seeing this, but she was surprised when he was talking with the kind waitress, Paige.

She returned her attention to the game, and Sylvester, although concentrated, seemed excited.

She didn't feel her uncle's stare towards Ralph.

Finally, Ralph made his first move and won the match, letting out a small gasp from Alexandria and a happy look from Sylvester.

The young human calculator turned to his boss and friend jubilantly, "Walter, you see this? Check mate in eight moves!" he turned back to Ralph with great euphoria, "This kid is amazing!"

"He won!" Alexandria beamed at a shocked Paige.

Ralph seemed distant from their happiness though, he seemed to be staring at something unblinkingly.

" _Walt! We got a problem, no one's home!"_ Happy's voice sounded urgently from Cabe's walkie-talkie.

He grabbed it, "You're the mechanical engineer! Pick the lock!"

" _I have my tools, but it'll take a lot longer than the six minutes we have before the bad software backs up onto the server."_ She informed him.

Paige told Ralph and Alexandria to sit down on one of the booths by the window, they obeyed but the tanned girl couldn't help to stare intently at the agent and hope to at least some of the conversation.

"Bates, get them in!" Cabe ordered to the federal agent that was with Toby and Happy.

There was a pause.

" _Walt, please don't let the Fed talk anymore."_ Happy growled angrily from the other side.

"We're down to a four-percent chance of success." Sylvester said weakly.

"In five minutes the software we need disappears forever, if that happens, 20,000 people die." Cabe told Happy with a serious tone.

Alexandria let out an anxious whimper and hugged her knees together, not wanting to hear anything else anymore. Paige noticed her distress and gave her a worried look, her maternal instincts were kicking in so she couldn't help it.

"Hey, Ralph, let's go in the office, okay?" she said as she realized that the kids probably shouldn't be hearing this, "Alex, you too sweetie, c'mon."

"No thank you." Alexandria didn't want to leave her uncle's side. She stood up from the booth, ignoring Paige's worried look, and walked to sit next to Sylvester, near her uncle, whom was talking with Cabe.

"We need to pull the team back, get four minds working together at once, and then maybe within an hour, we'll be able…" at this point Paige overheard him and approached them with a frown.

"By then the first two planes will be out of fuel," Cabe interrupted him, "Do you really think you can come up with an option by then?"

Walter regarded him with an expressionless stare.

"Hold on," Paige piped in with an incredulous tone, "You're just accepting two planes going down!"

Sensing her discomfort, Sylvester placed a hand over Alexandria's, and she squeezed it thankfully as the two watched the bantering with widen eyes.

Cabe sighed, "We lose two planes to save fifty-four. That's a trade we're gonna have to make," he turned around to the rude agent that drove the team to the diner earlier, "Contac the FAA and tell them these two flights are terminal." He ordered.

Walter stepped closely to Paige, "Agent Gallo is implementing the greater good theory. Loss is acceptable as long as the resulting gain is large enough." He explained cryptically.

Alexandria frowned at her uncle.

"No, it isn't. You save everybody," the waitress retorted immediately, "Normal people save everybody."

"I'm not normal." He shrugged with an indifferent tone.

"I don't care!" she yelled, "Use that 197 IQ of yours. Take a deep breath and reset."

Walter stared at her, taken aback and she walked away from him to lean on the wall and calm down from her argument, she looked annoyed at the fact that these people didn't seem to care much.

There was a morbid, long silence between the adults – but her uncle suddenly rolled his eyes when he finally realized something.

"Reset." He stated, seeming upset that he didn't remember something sooner, "Reset, reset…" he grabbed the walkie-talkie, "Happy, we need to reset the door lock! We need to brown out the ten blocks around the data center." He partially told Cabe, almost poking him in the chest.

"Kill the electricity to part of Los Angeles?" Cabe exclaimed.

"Mm-hmm,"

"Just turn it off in that one building!" he demanded.

"We can't focus a surge that precisely, but a brief power surge will open the door, and we'll be able to get in!" her uncle argued, raising his voice.

" _You're gonna owe me a new slim pick."_ Happy stated from the other side, making Alexandria smile.

"All right, we need to find a municipal junction box that covers that area." Walter informed Happy, "It should be on a commercial street."

" _I got one!"_ the fed with them said only seconds later.

"All right, calculate the kilowatts it'll take to overpower a surge within a ten-block radius." Walter told Sylvester, whom immediately ran towards the menu chalk board Paige was standing next to.

Walter paused to look at his niece and gave her a questioning look, Alexandria nodded with a weak smile. She was fine. He proceeded to see if Sylvester was working fast, but faced him having a problem with the chalks spread all over in the wrong way.

"No, no, no, no! Ooh. Not now, Sylvester."

"Wait, wait, what are you doing?" Cabe asked confusedly.

"Sly likes order." Alexandria offered him with a sigh.

"I can't calculate without order; it's my process." The large mathematician anxiously told him as he kept placing chalk over chalk.

"My process involves my foot in your ass!" Cabe yelled.

"Hey!" Alexandria stood and placed herself between Cabe and Sylvester, "Leave him alone!"

Walter pulled her next to him and hushed her, he didn't want her causing too much attention in front of Cabe.

"Hold on. Here," Paige quickly shoved almost every chalk to the floor, except one, she grabbed it and handed it to him, "One piece, it's the biggest and the smallest, so it's in order." She told him softly.

He grinned, "That works!" and so he started his calculations.

Not ten seconds passed, and Walter already seemed impatient when he approached his friend, "Uh, Sylvester, I don't want to hurry your process but—"

He turned at him before he could finish talking, "500,000 kilowatts!" he beamed.

"All right!" Walter said proudly as he patted him on the shoulder and ran back to inform Happy.

"Good job kitty!" Alexandria cheered as she high fived him, he seemed out of breath; he really liked doing his calculations.

Toby and Happy were in, and the group at the diner stared at the walkie-talkie expectantly and nervously because they had less than a minute. To distract herself Alexandria decided to sit next to Ralph again, he was staring at the kitchen's clock intensely, and Paige was staring at him with a small smile.

She knew this look, her uncle had it sometimes, not as much now since _he_ left, but sometimes she would catch him staring at his computer for hours.

Sylvester approached her when he noticed the situation, he decided to inform her about her son's actions, "He doesn't even know we're here. He's wondering if those flashlights can be powered by the heat of the hand that holds them." He said, pointing behind her, "Or he's calculating the cubic footage of the octagon clock." He guessed.

"I didn't even notice it was octagon shaped." Alexandria muttered, making Paige smile.

"He thinks about anything. Everything." He added.

"Did you let him beat you, earlier?" Paige asked him with a wide smile.

Sylvester scoffed, "No." he shook his head and gave Ralph a fascinated look.

"I-I had no idea he even liked chess." She admitted, looking at her son with new eyes.

Alexandria gave her a sympathetic look, "That's ok."

"Few parents meaningfully engage with mentally enabled children. It's not your fault." Sylvester told her, nodding at what Alexandria said, "It's just… how we are." He added quietly.

"Hm… How did your parents handle it?" she asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

The eleven-year-old cringed, not a good topic.

"Oh, I-I haven't spoken to them in ten years." Sylvester stuttered, trying to look nonchalant about it.

Paige stared at him, and for a moment she thought that if she doesn't do anything, that might be what ends up happening between her and her son.

There was a beeping from Walter's laptop, and Sylvester told her to hold on as he walked back to Cabe and her uncle.

Alexandria quickly talked as he left, "Don't worry. It's not going to happen to you."

She gave her a sad smile, "How do you know that?"

"Because I see how you treat Ralph. You're a good mom, and you try. Like Sly said, many parents don't." she told her without any hesitation, it was clear that she was confident about her words.

He waitress tilted her head at the girl, "Those are such lovely words. Are you… uh… Walter's daughter?" she asked carefully, glancing at the busy man.

"Nope. I'm his niece." She turned at Ralph, "I'm Alexandria by the way, but you can call me Alex, or Lexi. But never Alexia, please!"

Ralph didn't reply, but at least he looked at her.

"Alright, Lexi, I'm Paige Dineen and this is my son, Ralph, and it's nice to finally and officially meet the girl that is always asking for the same milkshake every time she comes here. Not to mention how much good of a tipper you are!" Paige chuckled.

Alexandria smiled bashfully.

Suddenly the diner's door bursted open and Toby walked inside marching, "Seat backs and tray tables up! Those planes are as good as landed!" he ruffled Alexandria's hair on his way towards the laptop, everyone following him behind.

"Hey squirt." Happy greeted her as she passed by, "Endlessly patting himself on the back, the whole ride here." she said more informed with an annoyed tone as they reached the booth.

"I just want a statue of me at LAX." Toby joked, or not, to Cabe, whom seemed unimpressed.

But at least Alexandria finally relaxed.

"Now what?" the agent asked Walter.

"Easy as sending a file," no it wasn't, "Mr. Brooks, in a moment you'll receive a bug-free version. All you have to do is open your e-mail and click a link." Walter informed the supervisor as Toby and Happy high-fived each other behind him.

Sylvester approached Paige again, and the two shared a smile, she looked at Ralph for any reaction, but the boy was still staring at the octagon clock.

"Wait. The hard drive's frozen." Walter mumbled as he stared at his screen, "The files are corrupted. They're useless." He looked at Happy for answers.

"We took it out as carefully as we could." She quickly said.

"How'd you transport it?"

"It was wrapped in a towel, tucked in a door console so I wouldn't drop it." Toby told him, a bit nervously.

Alexandria watched her uncle close his eyes and drop his head, "Was there an audio speaker in the door?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Yeah. So?" Toby questioned confusedly.

"What?" he pressed, "The magnet erased the hard drive. _It's useless now!_ " he growled at him.

"No, no, no, no! It's not my fault!" Toby defended, "I didn't know anything about magnets in car speakers."

"You've stolen hundred of them, Toby." Walter stated with a even, but tired tone.

"Toby no…" Alexandria groaned as she faceplanted the counter. Ralph looked at her curiously.

He sat down, realizing his own mistake.

"No place on earth has what we need," Walter stated somberly.

And everyone was back at being tensed up.

"FBI just texted," Cabe interjected, "They're out, too." He declared with a worried expression.

Sylvester nodded, "We're at less than one percent, Walter…"

There was an uncomfortable pause between everyone, and then Walter walks off through the back of the diner after slamming the door loudly enough to tell everyone that he was definitely angry at the situation.

Alexandria winced, she hated seeing him like this.

Cabe followed him, and the girl wondered if that was such a good idea. But then Paige walked after them as well, so maybe Alexandria wasn't needed this time, even if she was able to calm her uncle down a lot when he'd panic and shut down completely, she decided to sit this one out.

Minutes passed, and Cabe walked inside with a guilty expression. Things didn't look so well for the two planes.

Paige was still outside with Walter, and Alexandria was worried. Her uncle was brutally honest.

Interestedly, she watched as Ralph also made his way outside. She still didn't follow anyone, because if she was behind honest with herself, she didn't know what to do.

Cabe was on the phone with someone when Walter barged inside with his eyes widened.

"Don't hang up. Tell them there's still a chance." He said quickly.

Cabe blinked at him, "Put a pin in that, sir. We may have something here." he hang up.

"Software's on the planes. They use a duplicate copy to communicate with the tower. Now, if they took off before this morning's update, like a flight from Australia or New Zealand, they'll still have the bug-free software on board." He explained to his team and the agents.

Alexandria smiled at her uncle.

"Okay. But we still have the same problem. What we need is seven miles over our head and there's no way to get in touch with the people who have it." Cabe told him.

Scorpion looked at their leader for that answer, and Alexandria caught him staring outside towards the street.

He narrowed his eyes, "Yes, there is." He looked back at Cabe, "The Klemmer Airfield is twenty minutes away. Get me there in ten, and I can download that software."

"If you're gonna need to shut down all the roads that lead to Klemmer Airfield, there's gonna be lots of moving parts." The older agent retorted, "And I still think it' the wrong play; the runways are too short there." he added stubbornly.

"It's just a low fly-by."

"There's a neighborhood next door. If something goes wrong, you take out half a block." Cabe told him, slightly nervous.

"It's actually four blocks, but I won't let that happen!"  
"I don't know if that's going to be enough to get LAPD to set up rolling roads blocks."

Paige walking inside with Ralph again, and Alexandria waved at them. Whatever the kind woman said, it worked on her uncle.

"We're talking about major roads in a major city." Cabe continued as Paige told Ralph to hold on so she could listen to the conversation. "There's safety risks, there's procedure…"

"I know what you're doing," Walter snapped, "You're covering yourself in case of casualties." He narrowed his eyes at him.

"I don't put protocol over lives." Cabe argued quickly.

"Lives? You're suddenly worried about lives?" he asked him rhetorically.

"We can debate the past later. Right now, if you want my help, then let me make the calls and see if I can get this done for you." Cabe stated with a final tone. He turned to the agent that was with Toby and Happy before and beckoned him to follow, "Let's go."

And so they were gone.

Alexandria knew a few facts now: Walter didn't seem to like Cabe very much, they knew each other before she was born and… something really bad happened between them – because her uncle had never mentioned him to her before.

Walter turned to his team, "I know he thinks he's helping, but we don't have time for bureaucracy right now." He turned to the mechanic prodigy, "Happy, if I hack you into the DOT, can you manipulate the traffic signals?"

"They're on standard sequencers; don't see why not." she shrugged.

"So you shut down the roads, we drive fast as hell, we might be able to pull this off. Toby," he turned to the behaviorist, "I need you to check the manifest…"

"For a passenger up there whose phone is still on." Toby finished for him, almost in a competitive manner, "Walt, I got this." He gave him a cocky smile, "Don't worry."

"All right." Walter gave him an appreciative smile.

"You better." Alexandria said as she approached them, "Are you gonna do something crazy uncle Walter?"

"Yes, but it's going to save more than four thousand lives." He said, patting her head.

"Then there's no point on trying to stop you." she gave a dramatic sigh and sat down next to Toby.

Walter gave her an amused look before he started thinking again, "I'm gonna need to upgrade my wireless antenna software to pick up the signal from the plane, so someone's gonna have to drive me there."

"Um… I don't have my license but…" Sylvester started, "I'm more of a bus guy." He finished with an anxious gulp, Walter tried not to smile as he looked at him, "I understand the basic mechanics of-of how this works…"

"Sylvester…" Walter interrupted him gently, "I really need you here, helping Toby… and watching over Alexandria. But thank you, pal."

Sylvester nodded and smiled back at him, thankful.

Alexandria squealed internally, they were so cute! From her peripheral vision she saw Ralph handing Paige her car keys, she took them, and they both stared at each other. She realized that her son was telling her to help them wordlessly, she quirked her lips a little in awe, then she turned to Walter.

"Uh, driving through L.A. with nothing but green lights…" she started, raising the keys up to get his attention, "it's kind of always been a fantasy of mine." She told him with a shy smile.

"At high speed?" Walter looked at Ralph and shook his head, "No."

"Somebody's gotta drive—"

"No." he told her, "Come one…" he pulled her apart and started speaking lowly, "Your son needs you."

As they conversed, Alexandria skipped towards Ralph and flashed him a friendly smile, "That was a good idea. I hope your mom manages to convince my uncle to let her do it though. Aren't you scares that she gets hurt?"

He stared at her, and then shook his head, watching his mom and Walter's exchange.

"I see…"

* * *

"Mayday, mayday, communications restored."

Walter and Paige left the diner not even an hour ago, and they completely succeeded the mission.

Everyone cheered and celebrated, Alexandria hugged Sylvester and grinned at Ralph, he was staring at the laptop's screen with a light expression.

"Your mom did that!" she told him as Sylvester rubbed his head.

* * *

They all meet up with the two heroes in LAX, police had arrived and things were being discussed.

Alexandria had glomped her uncle into a bear hug and scolded him for taking a huge risk, he just smiled at her and remembered how Megan used to fuss over him whenever he corrected his teacher and took punishments for it.

Then they were all huddled into a group, his niece between Toby and Happy as they talked about their first, serious case. Walter had a small paper in his hand, Alexandria didn't ask him about it.

Walter noticed Cabe approaching them, so he decided to meet him halfway. As Alexandria noticed their exchange, she saw the agent give him a brown document, and then trying to persuade him into something – she knew this because her uncle took a step back to think.

Then he gave Cabe the small papers, with the team's requests.

Something was up.

And she knew that her uncle saw it coming.

And then they shook hands.

When Walter turned back to the team, Toby began analyzing him immediately.

"Okay, lips are parted, leaning slightly forward. You have something to tell us."

Walter placed his hands behind his back and smiled at his friends and niece.

"He offered us jobs." He announced.

They all looked happy and pleased at the news, Alexandria clapped even.

"Me, too?" Toby asked expectantly. He was still nervous about losing the money on a poker game.

"We're a team, aren't we?" Walter grinned, silently forgiving him.

"And what about me?" Alexandria asked, genuinely confused. "I didn't do anything today…"

"That's not true. You were there for moral support, you kept things light, you defended us and you calmed Paige. You're part of the team as well, Alexandria." Walter told her immediately.

"Yep." Toby nodded.

"True." Happy agreed.

"Most definitely." Sylvester eagerly said, beaming at her.

She flushed under their stares and mumbled a timid 'okay'.

"The waitress just left to bring her son home." Toby told Walter, reading his expression, "You just missed her."

"Her name is Paige." Alexandria scolded lightly.

* * *

Walter knocked three times on a white door and Paige opened it, she was now wearing casual clothes and her head was tied up, "Walter." She smiled pleasantly at him, "Come in." she told him, opening the door wider.

He smiled and waltzed inside, "I know it's, uh, late. I'm sorry to, um, say thank you for your help today." He told her as he stood in the middle of the room, behind the green couch.

"You're welcome." Paige kindly replied as she leaned on the wall.

They shared a look.

But Paige hummed amusedly, "You came all the way over to tell me that?"

"No, I also wanted to offer you a job." He quickly announced, "Government-funded problem solvers." He added.

Paige approached him, a little shocked. "Uh… Why?" she asked, "I'm-I'm not a genius."

"No, but you're raising one," he remembered Alexandria, she was now probably eating dinner with Sylvester as they watched TV, "That takes, uh, someone smart, brave… Now, our work requires, uh, interaction with people. It's not our strength, and Alexandria is too young to understand what is happening on some cases. You want to know about your son, I can translate him for you." he said with a soft voice, "You translate the world for us." he smiled and handed her the contract.

"It's, um… salary…"

Paige started reading the document attentively.

"… plus benefits." He finished.

She stared at the paper in awe, and covered her mouth.

"You're worried about not being able to connect with Ralph."

She looked at him, flabbergasted and with her jaw dropped.

"That is a second chance." He stated, nodding at the paper.

She exhaled, before smiling nervously, and after giving him a look, he knew that she was in.

"For you, too." She suddenly said, taking him aback. "With you and Cabe… and Lexi." She added hesitantly.

His silence and uncomfortable expression was what she needed to know, she was right.

"When I was sixteen, Cabe asked me to develop tracking software to drop military aid packages. So months later, I, uh, I turned on the TV, and I saw bombs falling on Baghdad. They were using my system, and I designed it for speed over accuracy. So 2,000 civilians died." He confessed.

Paige regarded him with a sad expression and watery eyes, "Walter, you… you were just a kid."

"Yeah, so is Ralph. So tell him to ignore any sentence that starts with "normally". Make sure he's not scared of anything that's he's capable of. And he'll find it difficult to make friends, and sometimes he'll feel like no one else in the world likes him." He told her, his voice deep and emotional.

At this point, Paige had started crying, knowing that he was right.

She cleaned a tear away, "Yeah."

"You just got to make sure that he knows it's not his fault."

"What about Lexi?" she asked him. "She's… such a good kid. But she's…"

"Normal," Walter smiled, "She's emotionally smart, but she doesn't have an high IQ like me. I…"

"Hi, Walter."

"Hey Ralph." He greeted just as the boy passed by them and sat on the couch.

"He-he doesn't talk to anyone but me." Paige said, surprised and impressed.

"He recognizes one of his own." Walter clarified.

They watched as Ralph pushed his gaming console controller to his side, expecting Walter to play with him.

"May I?" he asked Paige.

She just nodded, not trusting herself to talk.

"Thank you."

And as Paige watched the two talking about their dreams, she thought, that for a moment, everything was going to be okay between her and her son.

She just wondered if she could help Walter with his niece as well.


	4. Sickness by E-mail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I know, it took much longer than I thought to update this story and I am sorry! But you know what, with the hype for season four (and the first two episodes already out!) I decided to update again.
> 
> I wanted to finish this episode but wow; my hands were starting to hurt and switching from watching the episode to writing was hurting my eyes. But at least I wrote 3000+ words! That's good enough for me.
> 
> Sorry about any grammatical mistakes!

When Rose left, Alexandria stayed for a little with Helena inside the tent to give her some company. The girl couldn't be that much older than Alex, maybe a year or two, so even though Helena couldn't speak that much, a smile shared between the two was enough to assume that Helena liked having Alexandria with her.

But after a few minutes of companionship, the young O'Brien noticed everyone returning from a side room, she noticed the scowl on her uncle's features when he glanced at her and Helena. She doesn't know what he just imagined but maybe leaving the tent would be a good idea now.

Alexandria left after biding a small goodbye and when outside she placed the mask on the holder, and then she made her way to stand between Walter and Paige. The woman herself gave her a small smile as a greeting.

She wondered why was everyone staring at a pink laptop's screen, a medium black screen always typing "IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE'S SICK" spammed it nonstop. And Alexandria knew how a hacked laptop looked just by spending time with her uncle.

"We found this virus." Lane informed everyone, confirming Alex's inner assumptions.

"Based on this, we're working on the assumption that someone made Helena sick intentionally." Cabe explained, mainly towards Walter who absorbed the information quickly.

"Why would someone make her sick?" Alexandria suddenly asked innocently.

Walter grunted quietly, "To target Governor Lane, no doubt." Her uncle answered, "Any idea why?" he added-

"Immigration reform? Three strikes?" Lane continued guessing desperately, "Those are my hot-button issues, but would they prompt this kind of hostility against my kid?" Lane seemed lost, and mostly guilty that something like this was happening to his little girl because of his job.

"We're compiling all threats, past and present. The FBI, NSA, Homeland, all the top computer guys been trying to trace the sender. The source bounced around to fifteen countries. We hit a wall." Cabe told Walter dejectedly.

Alexandria sighed and decided to look at Helena again, she was a little surprised when the blonde with curly hair was already staring at her.

"Agent Gallo said that your team was brilliant – that you could find out who sent it." Lane sounded like he was begging Walter.

The two little girls shared a smile; even if Helena's was weak it felt genuine.

"All right." Walter nodded, accepting the job. Alexandria heard it and turned at him with a smile as she watched her uncle sit in front of the laptop, ready to work, "All of your devices are on the same home network?" he asked in a calculative manner.

"Yeah." The worried father confirmed.

"Any other computer has this virus?" Walter questioned as he started coding the pink laptop for some sort of trace that could lead to the criminal. Alexandria glanced at Paige curiously, the woman looked concerned but mostly posed. When she noticed that the girl was staring at her though, Paige gave her a confident nod. Was she trying to assure Alexandria that everything would be fine? It seemed like she was the one that needed that.

But Alex felt like it was too soon to hold her hand.

"No." Lane replied to Walter's question.

"Okay, so he directed the virus to just Helena's computer. Anybody else in the house sick?" Walter continued.

"No," Lane shook his head.

"So, you, your wife and your staff they've all been in her proximity?" the genius man insisted as he turned to the Governor with realization crossing his features.

"Yes. What are you getting at?" Lane pressed, becoming confused and impatient.

"Well, he could have taken out the whole home network, but he directed the computer virus at just your child." There was a pause as Cabe realized what Walter was insinuating, "I don't think it's a coincidence that no one else but Helena is ill."

"Oh…" Alexandria said.

"Wait, wait! What does this mean?" Lane urged as he watched Walter approach Helena's tent.

But the genius man ignored as he started unzipping the tent's only way out, "Give the girl some cool air. She's hot enough."

"What are you doing?! No!" Lane quickly walked up to him in an attempt to stop Walter.

Helena suddenly was taking deep breaths, as if she had been relieved of some of her pain.

"You can't catch it." Walter finally cleared Lane's confusion as he stood in front of the opened tent unconcernedly, "None of us can. The virus he placed on the computer is custom-built. He did the same with your daughter – or why is no one else ill?"

Alexandria quickly walked up to Helena, confident that her uncle was right, and squeezed her hand gently – trying to reassure her. At least her uncle had found something critical about this mission. Helena seemed thankful with the gesture as she weakly clasped her hand as well.

"You're saying he custom-built a virus that would make just this child sick?" Cabe prompted, almost not believing in what he was hearing.

"Yeah. There's computer hacking and more recently, there's biohacking. Now, whoever infected the computer also infected your daughter." Walter clarified as he placed his own laptop case in front of Helena's infected one, "Until we find that person, and know exactly what biological agent he used, there's not gonna be any hope for a cure." He concluded as he settled the laptop inside the case and zipped it close quickly.

As he made his way to exit the house the governor stood in front of him with an astonished expression.

"Wait, wait, wait! Where are you going?" Lane demanded at once, "You can't just drop a theory like that and leave!"

"You shouldn't have done that," Alexandria mumbled as she too made her way to follow her uncle after biding a goodbye to Helena and wishing her the best recovery.

"Governor, the helplessness you feel will incline you to irrational behavior. So please, resist the temptation to do anything stupid, like standing in my way." Walter advised him coldly, "Let me do my job," he added as he passed by the concerned dad, "Alexandria?"

Alexandria shot him an apologetic look before following her uncle and Paige out of the house, "Right behind you Uncle Walter!" she assured.

The young O'Brien glanced behind her before stepping into the foyer; she really hoped Helena gets better soon.

* * *

Back at the garage, Alexandria returned to her bedroom for a quick change of shirt, now she wore a green drawstring top with her light blue jeans. She decided to return downstairs again only to hear the team talking with each other.

A brief smile between Paige and her were exchanged when the little girl sat on the stairs to watch everyone.

"What I want to understand is how do you hack into a human being?" Cabe wondered perplexedly.

"Yeah, how do you do it uncle Water?" Alexandria noticed that he seemed tense about this mission so maybe changing the topic could help.

"I get your DNA from anywhere… a coffee cup, a piece of gum and then I study your genetics for a deficiency… say, uh, lung disease and then I harness that genetic sequence onto a cold virus and I blow it in your face." He explained shortly, seeming to be internally fuming.

"Wow, that's crazy." Alex said a little fearfully, making her uncle give her an odd look. Did she say something stupid?

"Or into the air around you." Sylvester added lightly. This did not make things better.

"Toby, anything?" Walter suddenly asked, rather impatiently, interrupting whatever Cabe was going to say.

"I traced the computer virus' code. Russia, China, Serbia, it's no wonder the government couldn't track it. It uses none of the known building blocks." Toby told him as he frowned at the screen. He was really trying.

"That's where you leave it, huh? With a young girl dying?" Walter stated emotionlessly before smashing his coffee mug on Paige's desk, making Alexandria squeal and jump a little.

Everyone stopped to stare at him as tension built up.

"Uncle Walter…" Alexandria scolded quietly, scared that he'd explode again. She has never seen him upset like this. Well, maybe once but he never broke anything.

"All right, trace the IP header." He ordered quickly as he climbed the stairs, but he paused to look down at Alexandria, she gave him a concerned stare in return. It seemed to have lasted hours before his eyes softened as he continued going up the stairs while hiding his hand.

"Study it for patterns, maybe that'll get us somewhere." He added before disappearing into the loft.

Paige and Cabe shared a look before the single mom made her way upstairs as well to start doing her job; she gently patted Alex's head as she passed by. But Alexandria couldn't help but think why her uncle was so upset about this mission? He's usually so calculative and calm.

And then it hit her.

"Oh…" she mumbled sadly as she realized that this had to do with her mom.

* * *

"Walter, we've got something!" Sylvester yelled a few minutes later.

"All right hide the mugs! I'm coming down!" Alexandria heard her uncle joke from upstairs.

She giggled a little while standing next to Happy, and as her uncle arrived, he gave her an apologetic smile as he stood next to her. She was just glad he wasn't in the mood to break more mugs.

"Okay, so we've successfully mirror the infected laptop. The good news is… we traced the e-mail." Happy filled in.

"The bad news… it doesn't just bounce off a few servers around the world. It's caught in an endless loop." Toby added, dazed as he stared at the laptop's screen.

Walter pulled his shirt's sleeves up before sitting on the stool and working typing and tracing.

"That is a dirty one, it's a good one." Walter praised, actually impressed that the hacker's skills, "They're using a round-robin on and IP address, but it's too clever by half. It narrows the source. There's a pattern in the routing data. You see that prefix?" He smirked as he glanced at Toby, pointing at the screen.

The doctor seemed to be shocked as he also pointed out what Walter meant.

"I know the place that uses this trick to mask their e-mail origins. Let's go!" Walter excitedly ordered them as everyone gladly obliged, following him out. They were finally gonna get this hacker and save Helena!

If only Alexandria knew what her uncle had just said.

* * *

Thirty minutes later they reached a small building that wasn't very easy to access, it didn't dangerous at first but when her uncle specifically told her not to wonder away from him or anyone in the group with a serious tone, Alexandria knew that maybe this place could become dangerous if it wanted to.

"The sophistication of the sent to the governor's daughter stamps of this place. It's a known hacker petri dish." Walter quietly explained Cabe and Toby as Alexandria walked beside him, holding his hand.

Paige, Sylvester and Happy trailed behind them, looking around and inspecting the place.

"One guy makes an advancement in deception, passes it on to another guy. It's how Silk Road stayed online for so long." Toby commented as he scanned the area full of people concentrated in typing on their computers.

"You know that how?" Cabe asked, he was a federal agent working for Homeland so now he was suspicious in how a civilian had gotten the information.

Toby seemed amused at Cabe's reaction as he gave him a small smirk that he briefly shared with the team, "I think we both take the Fifth on that."

Walter rolled his eyes, Sylvester gaped at him and Happy looked ready to punch someone. However Alexandria chuckled behind her hand that was now available after he uncle let go of it, she watched him disappear behind a corner and before she could warn the team Cabe's yelling startled her.

"Hey! Kill the music!" he barked as many headphone covered heads turned at him taken back, "Homeland Security! I'm looking for the scumbag that sent the e-mail virus to the governor's daughter." He ordered as Toby narrowed his eyes as he scanned everyone in a physiologically manner that could give the criminal away.

An Asian man suddenly looked at them nervously as he placed his chips bag down on the desk. And Toby noticed it.

"That greaseball right there, his wide eyes and twitching hands go beyond the standard for ten cans of Mountain Dew." Toby pointed out as he and Cabe slowly made their way to the young man, whom at the moment was taking his headphones out and rising from his chair.

"You! Don't move!" Cabe warned as he as the doctor were preparing to dash after him.

However before the hacker could run for it, Walter came out of nowhere and acted the way that no one would expect for him.

Alexandria watched as her uncle tackled the man down, pushing him to the floor with an immense strength.

Toby grinned, Cabe stood there abashed and Alexandria's eyes widened so much that she felt her stomach drop.

Walter only stood there, looking down at the man for a few seconds before glancing at his team to see Happy with the biggest grin on her face and Paige staring at him with her mouth formed like a big 'o'.

"Uncle Walter!" Alexandria didn't know if she should praise or scold him.

"Since when does Walter get physical?" Paige asked as she turned to Sylvester for an answer.

The mathematician himself looked more shocked than ever; "Um…" he gulped, "Never."

After Cabe cleared out of the room of everyone except for team Scorpion and the hacker, he sat in front of him face to face. Walter was sitting as well not that far from them and Alexandria sat on the counter between Happy and Toby, watching the interrogation as well.

"Got the job on Craigslist, I never even met the client." The man then huffed in mid confession, holding on to his torso, "I think he broke some ribs." He looked at Walter with a pained expression.

Walter only hummed, glaring at him.

"Refocus or I'll break the rest of them." Cabe threatened coldly.

The Asian hacker lost his smirk quickly.

"How were you paid?" Walter questioned.

"Cash, to my P.O. Box." He replied with his arms crossed.

"Great. Untraceable." Cabe stated, unimpressed.

"I didn't know about any sick kid. I just sent a few anonymous e-mails, and I pocketed three grand." He confessed, genuinely confused about what he did to Helena.

"Three e-mails?" Walter deduced as he leaned closer, "More than one?"

The man sighed, "I sent four totals. All the same… 'It's your fault she's sick.'"

"So there  _are_ more victims?" Paige asked him with a scowl on her face. She glared at the man frustrated, upset that there were more children probably sick like Helena was.

Alexandria stopped swinging her legs to give a concerned expression. This was really bad.

* * *

After arresting the back everyone returned to headquarters, Walter looked for the e-mail traces at the hacker gave and was able to find out where he had sent them to.

Walter, Toby and Paige were sitting on her uncle's desk talking with the governor to fill him in while she sat on the couch, trying not to look anxious.

"Sir, we identified the three other victims. They're all children." Walter informed Lane via webcam.

" _My God."_ Lane closed his eyes chapfallen at the horrible input.

"They're all sick as your daughter. Sons and daughters of Dwight Carrington, Victoria Cooper and John Tuttle." Walter continued the report as the children's photos popped on the screen.

" _Wait I know them."_ Lane suddenly told him in a stunned way.

"You were all employees of Vlaxco Pharmaceuticals in two-thousand and eight." Toby acknowledged, indirectly telling the Governor that they already knew that.

" _That's before I went into politics. I only worked there for a year in risk management."_ Lane told them.

"There's a drug called Trexicane. You all worked on its development." Walter briefed.

"Trexicane had promise as a cure for SMA… it's spinal muscular atrophy. It causes your muscles to waste away until you can't breathe anymore." Toby informed.

Alexandria winced, "That must hurt…" she suddenly remembered her mom. Was SMA like MS? Or was it different? She needed to ask Toby later.

"The clinical trial was going really well until Vlaxco pulled the plug." Toby added.

" _Yeah, it also worked well on asthma. It was redeveloped solely for asthma."_ Lane explained.

"Way more profit, uh?" Walter commented sarcastically, "Left all the SMA sufferers out in the cold."

Paige suddenly stood up after writing something on a paper and placed it in front of Walter. Alexandria didn't know what it was written there but it seemed to have calmed her uncle's hard expression.

" _I spent months fielding their angry phone calls. I hated the job. But how is this related to Helena?"_

"We think that whoever attacked Helena and these other children must be someone who suffered from SMA." Walter replied, calmer down.

" _And they're trying to make us suffer, too? What kind of mind thinks this way?"_ Lane asked tiredly.

"Well, the kind that sends taunting e-mails alongside his deadly disease. So someone is in enough psychological pain to not care about how stupid that is from a criminal standpoint." Walter responded, mildly disgusted.

" _Okay, is this headed towards ransom?"_

"More likely, like his experience with Trexicane, he's saying there is a cure out there, you just can't have it. This person would need high scientific aptitude and access to cutting-edge genetic sequences."

Alexandria heard Lane sigh,  _"I got thousands of complaints after the trial ended."_

"Our best bet at finding someone that angry enough to infect your daughter and three other children is in the drug-trial records. None of the other families work at Vlaxco anymore. You're the governor. Convince Vlaxco to hand them over." Walter concluded.

" _I'll beg if I have to."_ Lane told him with determination.

Alexandria liked his answer. He was really a good dad, she wondered if her dad also cared about her this way. She hasn't heard from him in a while.


End file.
